Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Last week I wanted to buy an album from Ana Tijoux, as a MP3
file. So, I did go to the Apple iTunes store in The Netherlands. However that
album was not available there. Then I did go to the iTunes store in the US.
They did have the album, but I couldn’t buy it because I have no bank account in
the US. That was also the limitation while trying to use my credit card.

Then I did go to Amazon in the US and there was the same
story. The album was available but I could only buy it with a US based bank
account.

A year ago, I did read about the fact that you could use
your American Express membership rewards points to get books from Amazon. I
thought that was a super deal, so I immediately tried to use my points and exchange
them for books. I won’t bother you with the nuisance; but is took me and their
customer service staff several weeks, to find out that this program was only
available in the US.

This shows that even these well-known global companies are
not truly global in their operations yet. That is because they started in the
US and then expanded (country by country) abroad.

This opens opportunities for companies who are really global
right from the design, right from the start. There are also these new
crypto-currencies available, which should make it possible and easy.

Last week I wanted to buy an album from Ana Tijoux, as a MP3
file. So, I did go to the Apple iTunes store in The Netherlands. However that
album was not available there. Then I did go to the iTunes store in the US.
They did have the album, but I couldn’t buy it because I have no bank account in
the US. That was also the limitation while trying to use my credit card.

Then I did go to Amazon in the US and there was the same
story. The album was available but I could only buy it with a US based bank
account.

A year ago, I did read about the fact that you could use
your American Express membership rewards points to get books from Amazon. I
thought that was a super deal, so I immediately tried to use my points and exchange
them for books. I won’t bother you with the nuisance; but is took me and their
customer service staff several weeks, to find out that this program was only
available in the US.

This shows that even these well-known global companies are
not truly global in their operations yet. That is because they started in the
US and then expanded (country by country) abroad.

This opens opportunities for companies who are really global
right from the design, right from the start. There are also these new
crypto-currencies available, which should make it possible and easy.